Ukip has denied reports that Nigel Farage has flown to the US to coach the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, for his next debate with Hillary Clinton.
Farage hinted in his farewell speech at Ukip’s conference last month that he might return to Trump’s side following an appearance with the Republican candidate in August, saying: “Who knows, I may even go back to the United States of America at some point.” Ukip sources at the conference also confirmed Farage would travel to the US to help support Trump before the election.
It had been reported that Farage, who announced he would step down as leader of Ukip less than two weeks after the country voted to leave the European Union, left for the US after the first presidential debate, which it is now widely accepted Clinton won.
A Ukip spokesman denied the reports but did not confirm or deny if Farage would be heading to the US in the future.
In August, Farage appeared alongside Trump at a rally in Mississippi, during which the Republican nominee likened his presidential bid to the Brexit campaign. Farage stopped short of endorsing Trump outright, but said: “I will say this: if I was an American citizen, I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton if you paid me.”
Trump attempted to shrug off polls suggesting voters thought Clinton had outdone him in the first debate by claiming he was holding back because he did not want to embarrass her.
Politics aside, Farage is considered a skilled orator and debater. In the days leading up to the June EU referendum vote, the then prime minister, David Cameron, refused to debate with him, agreeing only to appear on the same programme. And following a one-on-one televised clash with former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg on the issue of Europe, polls suggested viewers were swayed by Farage.
However, Farage would be unlikely to steer Trump away from making outlandish and controversial remarks, to which Farage is no stranger. In debates, speeches and radio station appearances, the former Ukip leader has called for immigrants with HIV to be banned from Britain, said he would be concerned if his neighbours were Romanian, suggested breastfeeding mothers should “sit in a corner”, and said women were paid less because they were simply “worth far less”.
Trump’s unhappiness with coverage of his widely panned performance in the first debate showed. Three times in the course of a rally in Florida earlier this week, Trump called out “the corrupt corporate media” and gestured towards his supporters to turn towards the press pen to boo, hiss and even, in one instance, shout: “Go to hell.”
Farage’s involvement is part of Trump’s latest strategy that centres on his new campaign chair, Stephen Bannon. Bannon was the head of the rightwing Breitbart website before Trump hired him, and is an enthusiastic supporter of Brexit. The website’s UK wing, Breitbart London, has close ties to Ukip.
- An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that Nigel Farage had already flown to the United States. A spokesman for Farage denied that he had made the trip, but refused to confirm whether he would in the coming days.
